That's a sheep trick
Whether escaping fields, letting out the hens or dying in revolting ways, his flock of woolly jumpers loves to torture Jeremy Clarkson (Sunday Times, May 31)
Last week one of my pregnant sheeps watched one of its mates give birth and decided that the new and very slimy lamb was hers. So, much to the distress of the actual mother, she started to lick it and offer up her nipples — is that the right word? Whatever, women tell me that the birth process is something they tend to remember. So how could a sheep think it had given birth when it hadn't? There's an obvious answer. Sheeps are the stupidest animals on God's green earth. Except for one thing.
They're not.
I bought mine last year at an auction in Thame, Oxfordshire. I had no idea what I was doing. Sheeps were brought into the ring, the auctioneer made machinegun noises and I went home with 68 North Country Mules. I've no idea what I paid. I couldn't understand a word anyone said.
I then bought two rams, which are basically woolly ball sacks, and in short order, all but three of my new flock were pregnant. The failures? I ate them, and they punished me for that by giving me heartburn.
And this is what I've learnt about sheeps in the nine months I've had them. They are vindictive. Even in death.
Sheeps know that human beings are squeamish. As a result, they never die of something simple, such as a heart attack or a stroke. No. A sheep's death has to be revolting. So they put their head in a bit of stock fencing and then saw it off. Or they decide to rot, from the back end forwards. Or they get a disease that causes warts to grow in their lambs' mouths. A sheep's death has to be worthy of a Bafta. Remember Alec Guinness at the end of The Bridge on the River Kwai? Well, it's that. With added haemorrhagic enteritis.
My sheeps clocked me immediately as a chap who's eaten too many biscuits, so when I had to move them out of one field into another, they'd do exactly as they were told. Then they'd wait for me to close the gate and walk home, before jumping over the wall, back into the first field. Did you know they can jump? Well, trust me on this: if a sheep wanted to annoy you, it could win the Grand National.
I bought a drone eventually and programmed the onboard speaker to make dog-barking noises. This worked well for a day, but then the sheeps just stood there, staring at it. So I had to move them by running about. And as I trudged home with a bit of lung hanging out of my mouth, they jumped over the wall again.
Today I have 142 extremely delicious-looking lambs boinging around in the fields. The walkers still won't put their wretched dogs on leads but at least they now look guilty when I glower at them. Although, actually, the biggest problem is not the dogs. It's the mothers.
Last week one of them decided that, to annoy me, it would abandon its lamb. I found the poor little thing in a hedge, shivering and hungry, and any attempt to reunite it with its mother ended with the lamb, and me, on our backs. The ewe was having none of it.
So I had to bring the lamb to the barn and make a bed for it near the wood-burning stove and sit up all night with bottles of warm milk. And then, in the morning, because it's a sheep and it wanted to upset me, it died.
The only good news about this is that there's no financial loss. Owing to the double whammy of Brexit and Covid-19, lambs today are worth about the same as a barrel of oil — minus £30.
Still, at least I now know how it must have felt to be a guard at Stalag Luft III. Because what those sheeps are doing when they're standing there in a perfectly nice field is thinking of ways to escape. If they were people, they'd be Gordon Jackson, Charles Bronson and Steve McQueen.
They constantly probe for any weakness in the fences. They keep tabs on my routines. And I'm bloody sure they are imperceptibly turning one of the cross-country fences into a rudimentary vaulting horse. And it's not because they want to get out. They're in the best field with the best grass. They just want to get on to the road so they can be hit by a bus, and burst.
Their latest game is very irritating. Somehow they've worked out how to open the doors on the hen houses. Even though I have opposable thumbs, I can barely do this; the latches are very stiff. But they can. And at night, they do. This means the hens can escape, and that means they are killed by nature's second most vindictive animal — the fox.
I cannot work out why the sheeps open the doors. It's not as if they're after the eggs, or the hens. Which means they must be doing it for sport. They actually enjoy watching the hens being eaten. And, as an added bonus, it pisses me off, which they enjoy even more.
It's the same story with their water bowser. They've worked out how to break the tap so all the water leaks into the soil. This means that either I have to mend it, or they die of thirst. So for them, it's a win-win.
Last night they gnawed through the wire providing power for the electric fence. So they could get out? Nope. So I'd have to stop what I was doing and fix it.
As I was doing that, I noticed something odd about one of the lambs. Its ears had come off. And as I stood there with my hands on my hips, asking myself how that was even possible, I got a pretty good idea of what life was like for my teachers having to deal with me and my troublesome friends. "Why have you rubbed linseed oil into the school cormorant, Clarkson?" That's what sheeps are, I've decided. Woolly teenage boys. And that's why they are so annoying.
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Let melodrama rest in peace. Unless Jaws is involved, there's no need to make a meal of death
By Jeremy Clarkson (Sunday Times, May 31)
Cornwall. Bank holiday Monday.
The sun is shining and the winds are gentle. It's a beautiful day. Think of the town of Amity before the shark comes. And then hold that thought, because, in the space of just one panic-stricken hour, there were three incidents, in which two people died and a third was seriously injured. Hell had arrived out of nowhere.
With the coastal emergency services' control room looking like the CIA command centre after Jason Bourne has just peered through the window, police, the coastguard rescue helicopter and a flotilla of lifeboats were dispatched in a flurry of noise and full-speed determination.
The coastguard dealt with incidents at Treyarnon Bay, Constantine Bay and Harlyn Bay, and lifeboats were launched from Rock, St Agnes, St Ives and Padstow. At some point I like to think someone looked up from his radar screen and shouted to no one in particular: "Hostiles inbound!" And all this seemed a bit weird because these places were where I used to go on childhood holidays with my mum and dad, and nothing dangerous ever happened at all. Nothing at all ever happened at all. We'd sit in the café Dad had found and, every hour or so, Mum would rub a bit of condensation from the window and say: "I think it's brightening up." But it never was, and it never did. So we'd have another cup of tea and I'd while away the hours, wondering which droplet of water would get to the windowsill first.
Sometimes, when the rain had slowed to a point where it was simply torrential, we'd go to the beach and I'd mooch about looking for things in the rock pools. Occasionally I'd even go in the sea, where my dad would warn me about rip tides and undertows and all sorts of other things. But I could never hear what he was saying above the sound of my chattering teeth.
Yes, sometimes I'd be picked up by an invisible wave of torque and moved a little way from the beach. But I'd solve this issue by deploying something called "swimming".
What's changed? Why have Cornwall's beaches gone from being the most benign places on earth to being so dangerous that Robert Duvall's airborne cavalry and a fleet of 40-knot rescue boats are not enough to keep everyone alive. Padstow? It seems to me it should be twinned with Basra.
I'm surprised the locals haven't yet come up with a way to blame Gordon Ramsay. Since he decided to spend lockdown in his house in Cornwall, he's been blamed for every other damn thing. The Corns even follow him around, waiting to photograph him strangling a dog or stabbing a postman. He's Rebecca from Manderley and the vicar from Jamaica Inn rolled into one. But the truth is, the accidents in Cornwall last weekend were not Gordon's fault. They were no one's fault. And really, they weren't even a story.
I'd love to say that when I holidayed in Cornwall in the Sixties, nobody ever died while swimming and no one was ever injured. But I bet they were. An unfit northerner with a belly full of beer, two lungs full of coal dust and a heart encased in bacon fat leaps into an ice-cold sea with nothing more than a bronze swimming badge: it's a recipe for disaster. I bet the fishermen were catching more dead miners every weekend than mackerel.
But it wouldn't be reported because someone had died, and where's the news in that? Back then, we accepted that dying is like going to the dentist's or buying a Volvo. Everyone gets round to it sooner or later. Today, of course, thanks largely to social media hysteria, things have changed and we aren't allowed to die any more. And if we do, there must be an inquiry of some sort to ensure that no one ever need die of anything ever again.
The fact is, though, that every single thing that has ever lived on earth has, at some stage, died. Or it will do soon. And before we get it into our heads that holidaying in Cornwall is more dangerous than holidaying in a Boko Haram training camp, we need to remember that Padstow over the bank holiday wasn't Hue in '68. It was not Jaws 6. Hell didn't come and there were no hostiles, inbound or otherwise. There were some sea accidents and that's it.
At present, many newspapers run obituaries. Sometimes there will be three in one day. That's three people whose lives have been deemed interesting enough to warrant a halfpage look-back. The other 1,500 people who died in the UK that day? Nope. It's reckoned they haven't done anything in their entire life that's worthy of a mention. It's not that they haven't charged down an enemy machinegun nest armed with only a pearl-handled butter knife, or invented fertiliser. They literally haven't done anything of note at all.
We mourn them if they were close to us, but we don't expect their deaths to be front-page news. Or even page 27 news. And that's how we should treat the manner of their death.
Yes, if someone spontaneously combusts while teaching a class of six-year-olds or is shot by an alien in the Arndale centre, it's definitely interesting. But if they drown while swimming or fall off a horse or crash into a telegraph pole, it's not. And if we report it, along with pictures of sobbing relatives, it's actually quite dangerous, because then there will be calls for beaches to be closed and riding to be banned and speed limits to be reduced. And the myth that death is avoidable will go on.
Who knows, we may even get to the point where we encounter a new virus that can really kill only people who were doing to die soon anyway, but, because we are so weak-minded and timid, we react by shutting everything down until a cure is found. Which may be sometime shortly after never.
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And here's the Sun column: "Next time there’s a pandemic, let’s just do what the Germans do"

Localizing Your Indie Game: Crazy Idea or Growth Hack?

Working at a localization company, every now and then I see indie developers among the clients, so I got to wondering: how do indie devs decide whether to localize their games? Sure enough, localization is a way to expand your player audience, but does localizing indie games always pay for itself? The goal of this article was to let the independent developers speak for themselves and find an honest answer.
I reached out to some indie developer acquaintances and received answers from four teams ranging from one to 10-12 people. Two studios produce mobile games, while the third studio and one solo developer make PC games.
Meet the heroes of this article:
Duck Rockets (Bon Voyage), Alexander Goodwin (Selfloss), Ink Stains Games (Stoneshard) and Mountains (Florence).
Mountains — an Australian studio founded by Ken Wong, a leading designer of the popular mobile puzzle game Monument Valley. The studio’s first project was the mobile game Florence, which was released on Google Play and the App Store in 2018 for Valentine’s Day. Then on February 13, 2020, the game was released on Steam and for Nintendo Switch.
Florence is an interactive love story, told in comics format in the “daily life” genre with mini-games, and is memorable for its offbeat presentation, cute design, and pleasant soundtrack. The game has received numerous awards for “Best Mobile Game” from The Game Awards, GDC Awards, and BAFTA, and was the 2018 winner of the Apple Design Award.
Ink Stains Games — an indie studio based in St. Petersburg (Russia, not Florida!). The team’s first project is the PC shooter 12 Is Better Than 6, which was made by three people. The studio’s next game was Stoneshard, a turn-based hard-core RPG about the travels of a medieval mercenary, for which the team had to be expanded to six people.
Recently Stoneshard was released on Steam Early Access. Interestingly, in 2018 Ink Stains Games conducted a successful Kickstarter campaign for Stoneshard, collecting over $100 thousand — three times more than the target amount.
Duck Rockets — an indie studio from Chelyabinsk, Russia. In 2017 they released the mobile game Bon Voyage and localized it into 8 languages. We talked about this in our interview article.
Bon Voyage is a casual three-in-a-row game, available on Android, on the social networks VK, Facebook, and Odnoklassniki, and in the local stores of Iran and Japan.
Alexander Goodwin is a fairly unusual developer. He makes a point of doing all his projects alone, from the initial concept to the music and release trailer montage. And yet Alexander is entirely self-taught, and has acquired his skills in modeling, art, music, and engine expertise in the broad expanse of the internet.
Under his belt the young solo developer has two mobile games on Google Play, which have gone unnoticed, and three games on Steam: Algotica, Mechanism, and Selfloss (release slated for spring of 2020). Selfloss is a melancholy adventure about a kind old man and his magic staff in a fantasy setting of Old Russia and Iceland.
Alexander is passionate about his work, and sometimes goes for days on end developing his games. He is also a postgraduate student and teaches at the Unity and Unreal Engine courses of ITMO University in St. Petersburg.
What made you decide to localize your games?
Ink Stains Games: Not every gamer speaks English, and having their native language among the supported options is a strong reason for them to buy. If translating a game is an option, it should absolutely be done, as it has a direct effect on sales.
Incidentally, the entire text of your page should be localized, including the game expansion plan, the early access text box, and the supporter pack description (if any). We translated our Steam page into the languages for which we have localization. We can’t cite any specific numbers, but we have definitely seen an impact — wishlist conversion and purchases in these regions is markedly above average.
With Chinese gamers we had a debacle: we translated the description into Chinese, but forgot about the early access text box and the expansion plan. This made many people think they were buying a finished or nearly finished game (when in fact it was essentially an open beta), and they left lots of negative reviews, not realizing that it was still in early access. Or else they purchased the supporter pack, thinking it was standalone DLC. After we hastily translated these texts, the flow of negative feedback dropped considerably.
Alexander: Many developers don’t know (or forget) that Steam only features a game in the countries for which its page has been localized. At least, that’s how it was for a long time. This means that translating a game’s page and the game itself into different languages is the quickest way to make it visible to the largest number of people.
Duck Rockets: We decided to translate into languages other than English for one simple reason. The launch of the first non-Russian version was planned for Facebook, but the platform did not allow country-based soft launches or filtering of the countries in which gamers would see the app. So we had to at least cover a basic minimum for our European audience.
Who do you turn to for translations, and how do you choose the languages for localization?
You can localize through localization studios, freelance translators, or even using fan translations (crowdsourcing). Naturally, the quality of fan translations is rather unpredictable, but for indie games with a solid fan base this is a realistic option (Klei Entertainment is a good example). The crowdsourced translation can later be groomed using an editor and localization testing.
Mountains did their translations using a localization studio, Duck Rockets used the online professional translation service Nitro, while Alexander Goodwin and Ink Stains Games employed a combined approach: localization studio, freelance translators, and fan translation.
Ink Stains Games: 12 Is Better Than 6 was translated using a major localization studio. For Stoneshard we selected translators on an individual basis — mostly they found us themselves, since they had an interest in the project.
Polish localization was done by a fan: we met him halfway and gave him access to all the accompanying documentation, and then we integrated the translation into the game.
Alexander: Quite frequently the native speakers themselves help us out. I was once assisted by an ordinary school principal from Peking, who helped translate Algotica into Chinese — free of charge. He emailed me, offering to do so. I also employed the services of a localization studio for Mechanism: they translated it into Chinese and corrected my English and German (a friend provided the German translation).

How do you choose the languages for localization?

The number of languages selected cannot avoid being affected by the amount of text in the game. For example, Stoneshard (Ink Stains Games) currently contains 40,000 words, while Bon Voyage (Duck Rockets) has around 5,000 words, and Florence (Mountains) and the games of Alexander Goodwin contain little text. Algotica, for instance, has fewer than 1,000 words.
*Other languages into which Mountains has localized Florence: Arabic, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Greek, Hindi, Indonesian, Malay, Norwegian, Swedish, Tagalog, Thai and Vietnamese
Ink Stains Games: Stoneshard is currently available in five languages (one of which is Russian, and another of which is a fan translation); our previous game was released in six languages. Stoneshard alone, even in this early stage of development, with no plotline, has over 40,000 words. 12 Is Better Than 6 has nearly three times fewer words — around 15,000. So for Stoneshard we lacked the resources to translate into every language.
It’s not simply a matter of money — nearly every localization has to be vetted for quality, and the more languages there are, the longer it takes. The game is complex, with extensive mechanics, so numerous nuances have to be fine-tuned. The translators have many questions regarding the setting and how to correctly translate various concepts. If there are any references we have to explain them as well, so as to adapt them to the language of translation.
Alconost comments (some feedback from the localization managers in my company): The challenges described by the Ink Stains Games team are a striking example of the need for glossaries for large-scale projects. These glossaries can contain the game’s primary terms, names, and locations, with explanations of their meanings. Ordinarily our localization team helps compile the project glossary.
Also important is the platform used to organize the translation work. Choosing the right platform makes for easy and productive discussion, so that issues are quickly resolved. Incidentally, here are the platforms we work with.
Mountains: Just like Monument Valley, Florence doesn't have much language in the game. Based on my experience with Monument Valley, it's relatively cheap to translate the game with so few words. So we did the most popular languages first — English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Korean, Chinese (Simplified and Traditional), Japanese, Polish, Portuguese and Russian. This list was recommended to us by our publisher, Annapurna. On a later update we decided to add the extra languages.
Duck Rockets: At first we translated Bon Voyage into the primary European languages, betting on their profitability. Japanese and Arabic came up by accident; they were an experiment. We also tried translating the app page into other languages, and since there was interest from Turkey and Italy we localized the entire game into their languages, as well.
Which is better: to localize into many languages or to stick to the five most popular?
Ink Stains Games: In the future we plan to add localization into Spanish, French, Italian, Korean, and Japanese. Fan localizations may also end up being integrated.
We choose languages for localization based on the percentage of Steam users from a given country, and also based on data for various regions for our particular game.
https://preview.redd.it/u8eaa75mn7n41.jpg?width=699&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e7176342ebc943e7fdd6ba577ca366c02d141d0a
Alexander: If I see a game gaining popularity, I will naturally try to localize it into all the available Steam languages.
Duck Rockets: We have plans to expand the list of languages into which Bon Voyage is localized, but this is highly dependent on our audience. If we are seeing 1,000 installs a day from a country, it is definitely worth localizing into that country.
If the budget permits, it is worth including as more languages. Because everyone thinks you ought to translate into the most popular languages, which ends up raising competition among games in those languages.
Of course, we need paying users from these countries (where popular languages are spoken). The bulk of our profits comes from English- and German-speaking users. But the smaller stores also produce some income, and should not be written off — especially considering that they increase our download numbers and other metrics.
Mountains: We would love our game to reach as many people as possible. Like many decisions, we have to balance our desire to reach underserved audiences with the costs.

Localization process and results

Localization is more than putting a game’s text into table format, translating it, then feeding it back into the game. For some languages the game architecture may require serious reworking. Fortunately, many developers already know that it’s best to prepare for localization at the development stage.
Ink Stains Games: The need for future localizations is something we gave thought to from day one, when we were planning our game’s infrastructure, so considerable effort was made to optimize the mode of text storage. The entire in-game text was exported in a special text file format, from which the game can then pull it without our having to rebuild or alter it. The translator can freely edit and autonomously insert text into the game without our assistance. This proved convenient for both the developer and the translator.
Alconost comments: Working with text in table format is an option, but it is our opinion that for text-heavy projects — such as Stoneshard — it is more convenient to work using localization management platforms, which let you store localized texts, communicate with the translation team, and provide context within the text itself. Our customers prefer to work with us on Crowdin for app localization, and on GitLocalize for GitHub projects.
Duck Rockets: For translations into European languages we didn’t have to change a thing. When it came to Japanese we had to spend some time figuring out the display of the characters and the position of text in the game.
During localization into Farsi we had to make a serious effort to get the text to display properly from right to left. Here’s a bit of trivia: Farsi has its own symbols for Arabic numbers, meaning that we had to transform all the numbers displayed so as to replace the numbers we’re used to with Persian ones.
Mountains: We had to go through the game and identify any artwork that had words in it and prepare those bits of art to be substituted.
Did you have to change or redo anything in the game during localization?
Ink Stains Games: Yes, every language has its idiosyncrasies. For Russian and German we had to make it possible to indicate word gender and to produce the proper forms of adjectives, so that our generator of names for objects and dungeons would function properly in these languages.
Chinese posed a number of problems. In the same dungeon name generator the algorithm had to be changed: adjectives and nouns had to switch places. To do this correctly we had to rewrite the text parser — Chinese, as we know, has no spaces, which we use for text transposition in other languages. We also had to add support for Chinese punctuation for the log, since it has its own punctuation marks. In addition we had to work out the font settings: in the game the text is pixelated, which rendered many of the characters unreadable.
Alconost comments: Certain game fonts do not have the symbols for every language. This means that for certain language versions different fonts must be chosen, because without this many symbols will appear like □□□□. How can you check for this ahead of time? The internet has a number of excellent tools for pseudo-localization. These tools imitate the interface in the foreign language, including changing the text length and “checking” the encoding. Essentially, this launches a scenario that imitates the target language and produces a build, which can then be checked as in the testing process.
Alexander: No, my games are rated for a fairly young age group, with no skeletons (which are strictly prohibited in China), so I didn’t have to do any “culturalization.”
Duck Rockets: We only had one such incident: the game included the Carnival of Brazil, at which the heroine had almost nothing on. The Iranian publisher asked us to put some clothes on her, so we redrew her.

Has localization paid for itself, and what languages have proven the most profitable?

All the studios named Chinese as the most successful and profitable language. Duck Rockets’ game has not been localized into Chinese: for mobile games the situation is somewhat more complex, since without an arrangement with a Chinese publisher it is impossible to launch a game in China.
Ink Stain Games: Yes, all our localizations have paid off. Experience has shown that the purchase ratio is higher than usual in countries where the game is accessible in their language. Chinese performed especially well: the percentage of Chinese gamers ended up being on a par with the USA and Eastern Europe.
Alexander: Yes, absolutely. The majority of purchases come from the Asian market, especially China. Be sure to localize into Chinese (both simplified and traditional). That is an absolute must.
Duck Rockets: Our best-paying countries are the USA and Great Britain. Germany also provides a significant part of our income. We’ve never had a situation where localization failed to at least pay for itself. The game profits cover development, with funds left over to experiment a little with translations into new languages.
Of course, we had hoped that if we just translated into this one language we would see our audience increase in that country. But in the realities of the current market that remains a distant dream. What we ended up seeing was a noticeable rise in audience engagement and loyalty, which are also highly important, so localization was worth it regardless.
Mountains: Half of the sales for Florence were from China, and more people had played the game in Mandarin than in English.
Localisation did meet our expectations. We encountered some feedback from our players where some words would work better than others; but that is to be expected. We made the corrections on future updates.
Comment by Alconost: Collecting user feedback on localized versions is an excellent practice. This helps to correct oversights in time — for example, by sending a localized text for proofreading. Or to realize that your current provider is not producing a very high-quality translation. As our customers observe, “When users say nothing about the translation quality in our games, we’re thrilled: it means the translation is just fine.”

Life Hacks and Conclusions

What would you recommend to other developers to make localization more effective (cheaper, faster, etc.)? Can you share any life hacks with us?
Ink Stains Games: First and foremost, look for translators who actually like the game itself, and who will find it interesting to work on it. The best translator is one who understands the game and how it works.
Alexander: I stick to the rule that games should have as little text as possible, but it all depends on the project. If it’s an adventure game, it’s easy to keep the text to a minimum. Remember “Inside”: no words whatsoever, except for the menu text, and what a hit that was! My games have very little text, which simplifies the task of localization.
I don’t deny however that there are genres where extensive, well-written texts are of the utmost importance. If you have an RPG with a ton of text, make your standard language as close to ideal as possible, so as not to overpay for additional translation of new sentences later.
If your game is popular, and you’ve already translated into all the primary “gamer languages,” you are likely to get emails from gamers in various countries asking you to add localization for their own less widely spoken language. And if there is a demand, why not? In game development, especially in the indie sphere, it’s not how profitable a decision is that matters, but how it affects your image. I think people often forget about that.
Duck Rockets: If you need to quickly translate small texts, especially into 6-7 languages or more at once, the most convenient way is the online service Nitro.
You can find publishers for local stores, who usually undertake the localization themselves. That’s how it was with our Japanese and Iranian publishers.
Perhaps our best life hack is to localize the app store description and screenshots into other languages as a way to test audience interest. If a person opens the game’s page and sees English description and screenshots, they lose interest, and conversion drops. But when you localize the game’s page, conversion immediately increases.
Frequently the smaller markets have few interesting games (and apps in general) in their native language. This means less competition there, making it easier to attract an audience and make some money.
We took Bon Voyage to Iranian and Japanese stores. In Japan the result was not particularly impressive, but we did earn something. Iranian gamers, on the other hand, found our game very much to their liking, and they ended up becoming the most enthusiastic players we have. Games vary, and you never know for sure how the audience in a given country will receive your game. You have to experiment.
Alconost comments: In any case, a game needs to support EFIGS: English, French, Italian, German, and Spanish. Otherwise gamers are guaranteed to complain. Gamers have come to expect this selection of languages by default. As for other languages and markets, you can experiment with them by translating the description on Google Play and the App Store (without localizing the game itself). This is a good strategy.
The Russian-speaking segment currently accounts for a fairly large part of the gaming community: it is the third most widespread language on Steam, and the Russian gaming market has a worth of $1.7 billion. Gamers are constantly demanding Russian translations, and they leave low ratings for games that lack a Russian version. For this reason, in addition to the standard EFIGS languages + Chinese, Japanese, and Korean, we recommend including Russian in your localization.
Bottom line: is it worth localizing indie games, and when should you consider it?
Ink Stains Games: If you’re able to localize a game, absolutely do so: it’s the most effective means of increasing your game’s overall reach. There’s no point whatsoever in getting on Steam exclusively in one language. A good rule of thumb would be English, Russian, and Chinese.
If there are any regional statistics available for your community, take advantage of them. In our case, we went by the statistics for the countries of our Kickstarter backers. This was a fairly good way to approximate the order of precedence for the different languages.
Duck Rockets: If the game was created not just as a hobby, but in order to attract a wide audience and as a way to make money doing what you love, it’s worth it.
If the game doesn’t have much text, I think it is absolutely worth trying out the local stores. Everyone wants to make it big on Google Play and the App Store, but few consider the potential of the smaller platforms.
Alexander: Chinese localization for games is absolutely essential. Add the other languages gradually in order of profitability.
Mountains: Just build the game and UI with localisation in mind from the start. The China market is so big that I would never release a game without at least English and Chinese versions.
Our games have very little text, which made localisation a relatively cheap and easy process. For games with tens of thousands of words, such as RPGs, it’s a little more complex. But I think even indie developers should build with a localisation system already in place so that they can future proof themselves. It’s far more complicated to add localisation into a game’s architecture at the advanced stages.
A big thank-you to the talented indie developers who agreed to chat with us and share their experience!
Localize your games, guys — after all, experience has shown that it’s not always expensive, and an additional flow of players never hurts. :)
Article by Alconost contributor Margarita Shvetsova

Content Update: Don't Forget the Driver, Dancing on the Edge, Enterprice and more now available on BritBox UK

The Roast of NatJamSta

Joker returning to cinemas in the United Kingdom and Ireland!

Where do you stand on supporting actress?

Documentary Feature

Completing the Matrix: August 2013 Steven Moffat Production Notes for Doctor Who Magazine #464: "Malcolm Tucker was looming over me - for some reason insisting on the name 'Peter Capaldi'..."

Rank	Roast	Score
0	You got those dead eyes from trying to fill a daddy size hole in your heart with dick	10.414949676716773
1	I thought you stopped sending us messages after we killed you!	9.181662918849455
2	If I told you I'm 25 I'd get an Aussie BAFTA for it.	9.00702156979902
3	I thought you were ugly based on the faces you make, not the actual pictures	8.954266332168245
4	I thought you were ugly until I saw your legs	8.9276414725516
5	I think you misspelled 2027	8.77727534149543
6	Your parents gave you that as a sign you weren't getting laid.	8.754734337633128
7	I thought you weren’t allowed to be gay in sha’vee	8.754734337633128
8	I thought you weren’t allowed to be gay in fandoms anymore	8.754734337633128
9	Rogaine clone if Arnold Schwarzenegger's dick.	8.3697579070721
10	How do you look like someone uses to lure 14 year old girls in photo..	8.15153528990427
11	I thought you stopped giving out roasts after 30 years of this post?	8.142734994565055
12	I bet your boyfriend/girlfriend is crying too	7.754622296000212
13	I thought you were ugly until I saw your legs	-15.0
14	I thought you were ugly until I saw your legs	-15.0
15	I thought you were ugly until I saw your legs	-15.0
16	I thought you were ugly until I saw your legs	-15.0
17	I thought you were ugly until I saw your legs	-15.0

This was still from the months before the 50th Anniversary Special. This issue mainly featured the announcement and discussion around Peter Capaldi becoming the Twelfth Doctor. The latest issue of Doctor Who Magazine, about the restoration of The Macra Terror, is out now.
Want an archive of the previous Production Notes that have been posted on /gallifrey?: Follow this link or this one.
They choose themselves, you know. That's the truth about casting. But it's not the whole story, I suppose, so why don't I tell you this story from the very beginning...

Chapter One

2005 (I'm fairly sure).
So Doctor Who is back, and do you remember that golden summer? Us Who fans striding about like puffed-up loons, with our feet barely reaching the ground, however hard we tried. It was back, it was good, and it wasn't going anywhere. Some days I still struggle to believe it all. On a fairly warm evening (I think, I'm old and fuddled), I was at a BBC party in a nice basement somewhere, with loud music and a lot of sweaty middle-aged people complaining about the loudness of the music. I was feeling a bit good about myself, because The Empty Child (which is now so long ago, Quatermass is in it) had gone down rather well, and people thought I could write drama. And at events like this people would always talk to me about Doctor Who, which I loved so much. People, I say - not generally Comedy Gods.
A saturnine figure detached himself from the shadows, and in a moment Malcolm Tucker was looming over me, extending his hand and for some reason insisting on the name Peter Capaldi.
I loved - and still love - The Thick of It. I was in awe. Because this extraordinary actor, this star several times over, knew my name! That sort of thing never happened to me, and I couldn't understand it - but very soon everything became clear.
"Peter Capaldi is a Doctor Who fan," I told my wife, in the taxi a few hours later. "You mean he watches it." "No, I mean he's a fan. Like me." "Not like you." "Yes, like me." "Really not." "Seriously." "... were you drinking?" "Beside the point."

Chapter Two

It's a bit of a montage, this chapter - it'll work better if you hum yourself some Murray Gold.
Every now and then, I'd bump into Peter at daft events - the Comedy Awards, the Scottish BAFTAs, the British (and therefore also Scottish) BAFTAs, and we'd always chat, and it was always about Doctor Who. Even in the months when Sherlock first went out, when everybody mentioned The Other Show first, Peter came looming up and said, "I know I should be talking about Sherlock, but I just love Matt Smith."
And I suppose, it started ticking away in my brain, that one of my favourite actors, one of the finest in the country was as much in love with the TARDIS as anyone reading this magazine.
You don't suppose...?

Chapter Three

The first time I was involved in casting the Doctor, Peter did flick through my mind. But somehow it didn't feel right, and as I type, I'm struggling to explain why. It's funny, though, how each Doctor sort of pushes the door open for the next one. You can't imagine Patrick Troughton's mercurial schemer turning into Tom Baker's booming, boggling madman. But via that dashing, graying man of action, Jon Pertwee, it all makes sense. Equally I couldn't imagine David's cheeky, sexy, quicksilver Doctor becoming Peter Capaldi. Like if the Doctor has any say in the matter, even subconsciously (and surely he does), he wouldn't go that way. Somehow David's Doctor was too youthful to become that man next.
It's a contradiction, of course, because the next Doctor - the hipster boffin - was even younger. But in a way, courtesy of the genius of Matt Smith, Number Eleven wasn't young at all - he was all ages at once. No other actor in the role has ever nailed the sheer age of the Doctor better than he does. The wisdom of centuries shone out of those big, sad eyes - so as the time drew near for those eyes to close forever, I found myself saying -

Chapter Twelve

"Peter Capaldi."
He was on Andy Pryor's list, of course. He was at the top of mine. Brian Minchin sucked his pen a bit, because he'd worked with him on Children of Earth and for a moment it was a bit of a leap - but only a moment! Capaldi! Capaldi was suddenly our big idea.
I asked my old friend Mark Gatiss to make me a list, and right at the top, again, was Peter Capaldi.
Cometh the moment, cometh the Doctor. You don't have ideas - they just let you know when they're ready.
No guarantee he'd go for the plan, of course. The man had a career on stage and screen, was a proper distinguished thespian, he'd probably want -
" - to come and see us." Andy told us. Well, no Andy didn't tell us that at all. He emailed us at ten o'clock in the morning, informing us that he'd phone at three in the afternoon with exciting news. Then he told us.
Oh, how that day flew by!
We were being top secret, of course, so the audition was held at my house. Oh, and did you enjoy our Top Secrecy, by the way? No-one knew it would be Peter. Except the betting shops, the newspapers, and people. There were as many photos of Peter in the papers the day before the reveal, as the day after. To the uninformed it must have looked like the continuing story of a man who shaved off his beard.
But anyway, I digress. Back in sequence, Moffat, enough of the Timey Wimey. The audition: it was one of those moments - the Doctor was in the room, and the search was over. Ben Stephenson and Faith Penhale agreed, and a phone call was made to the set of The Musketeers, to inform the great man that a big blue box was about to close around his life forever.
And so it was, on a very special day in Prague, that a Doctor Who fan, dressed as Cardinal Richelieu, who was probably wondering who the next Doctor would be, discovered to his great joy, that the Doctor, at long last, was him.

Doctor Who Reviews – Tooth and Claw (Spoilers)

Earlier Reviews
The Doctor and Rose head to the Scottish Highlands where they meet Queen Victoria who is definitely not amused…
After criticising New Earth for its lack of imagination, up next from Russell T Davies’ box of tricks – a Werewolf! I’ll be honest and say I wasn’t looking forward to watching Tooth and Claw, remembering it as boring and cliched, so I was shocked by how good the opening was. After an establishing shot of the beautiful Scottish countryside (actually Mythyr in Wales), a group of Monks (think David Carradine in Kung Fu) attack and take over a stately home.
Meanwhile the Doctor and Rose are on their way to 1979 to watch Ian Dury and the Blockheads in Sheffield, but unfortunately he’s a century out and arrives in 1879 where he meets Queen Victoria as played by Pauline Collins (Samantha Briggs from The Faceless Ones). The presence of a figure with so much historical weight gives a very strong dynamic to this story, we’ve got the ultra-confident Tenth Doctor, already showing signs he will dominate every scene, alongside Victoria, Queen-Empress of the British Empire.
There’s some great humour in their first encounter, the Doctor goes full-on Scottish quoting Burns and calling Rose a “timorous beastie” and there’s the first example of the Doctor saying “no, don’t do that”, when Rose also attempts a Scottish accent - “I’ve been oot and aboot.” When he sees the Queen, the Doctor’s eyes shine and there’s a respectful tone in his voice as he introduces her to Rose. David Tennant is probably the most popular Doctor among the not-we and a big part of this must be due to his natural charm. I’ve been re-watching The Trial of a Time Lord and when Colin Baker tries to be winning it seems forced, whereas Tennant only has to smile to be instantly likeable.
Victoria is travelling to her royal residence at Balmoral, but a tree has blocked the train line so she heads across the highlands, stopping at Torchwood House where the son of her late husband’s friend lives. After Bad Wolf in Series One, Torchwood is the new repeated phrase in this series, I remember thinking this would work in exactly the same way "Bad Wolf" so it’s a clever move to subvert expectations and show Torchwood so early in the season.
Torchwood House was taken over by the monks at the start of the episode and there’s a great atmosphere of menace as the Doctor, Rose and Victoria explore the house. There’s some good work by Director Euros Lyn as the monks are present in the background of most shots glaring balefully over the shoulders of our heroes. We discover that the Queen has brought the Koh-I-Noor diamond with her and that her husband Prince Albert used to visit Torchwood House to discuss Werewolves. Those of you familiar with the principle of ‘Chekov’s gun’ will know these elements will all be relevant as the plot progresses...
Rose discovers a serving maid hiding in her wardrobe and the maid, Flora, tells Rose that the monks have taken over the house. Rose is captured and taken down to the cellar while over dinner, the Doctor and Victoria listen to some more of the plot. Sir Robert, the owner of Torchwood House, tells them that every full moon the locals hear howling and find animals ripped apart, a werewolf is loose in the area and the Brethren of the local Monastery are its servants. Rose has been locked in the cellar with the servants from Torchwood House, also in the cellar is a feral young man, he tells Rose that he’s a werewolf and he plans to bite Queen Victoria to create “the Empire of the Wolf”. There’s a lot of set-up and expository dialogue in Tooth and Claw, but actually I think it gets away with this because the dialogue, the camera work, and the period setting successfully builds up the atmosphere and the tension as we wait for the wolf to be revealed. The transformation itself is pretty impressive, the CGI has dated a bit, but it’s still a lot more effective than Sergeant Benton’s metamorphosis in Inferno or Mags’ in The Greatest Show of the Galaxy.
Unfortunately, after all the tension while we wait for the wolf to appear, once it starts rampaging through the house, Tooth and Claw goes a little bit off track. A problem common to many films featuring viscous killing machines, is that the filmmaker has to find a reason why it doesn’t slaughter everyone within five minutes. There’s a really annoying scene where the Steward of Torchwood House prances around celebrating killing the beast before being hoisted through the ceiling by the vengeful wolf. There’s also a couple of noble self-sacrifices; I not averse to these in general, but they’re shown in such a way as to make them pointless. The Captain of Victoria’s guard delays the monster to buy her time to escape, but Rose stands around, watching him get slaughtered before running away so his valiant sacrifice gives them about three extra seconds! The wolf scenes aren’t helped by Murray Gold's background music which is too loud and too high-energy.
The Doctor, Rose and Victoria lock themselves in a room which the wolf is unable to enter, the Doctor realises the walls are coated with mistletoe oil and this must be preventing the wolf from entering, and coincidentally prolonging the running time! The room is a library and, after proclaiming that books are “the best weapons in the world”, the Doctor tells them to arm themselves with knowledge.
1983 saw the first ever commercial release of a Doctor Who video, Revenge of the Cybermen, the commercial release of serials allowed us to rewatch them to pick apart plot lines, laugh at bloopers, as well as praising our favourite stories. Russell T Davies is one of us and he celebrated this aspect of a Doctor Who fan's life in Queer as Folk when Vince comes home from an unsuccessful night out to watch Pyramids of Mars (we’ve all been there!). Tooth and Claw suffers from repeated viewing because we can see how nonsensical the Brethren’s evil plot is.
The wolf came to earth in a shooting star in 1540 - why did it wait almost 450 years to put its plans into action? Davies attempts to rationalise this when the Doctor postulates that only a single cell survived which took generations to develop, but Sir Robert has already told him that the wolf has been active for 300 years. The Doctor believes that if the wolf bites Victoria it will lead to “the Victorian Age accelerated. Starships and missiles fuelled by coal and driven by steam, leaving history devastated in its wake.” This sounds impressive but, as the wolf is a fey youth in a cage when he’s not transformed, why would biting a middle-aged woman suddenly lead to a technological revolution?
Queen Victoria shows them the Koh-I-Noor diamond, she is bringing it to the Royal Jewellers to be re-cut and this makes the Doctor realise that Torchwood House was built as a trap for the wolf by Sir Robert’s father and Prince Albert. The Prince continually had the diamond re-cut to make it into the perfect focus for an over-powered telescope located in the house; the Doctor uses moonlight, the telescope, and the diamond to destroy the wolf. If the Brethren’s plot was daft, Albert’s is incomprehensible! How often did Albert visit Torchwood House with the Koh-I-Noor? Did he see a fortune teller who told him that one day his wife would visit? Why didn’t he tell Victoria about his plan? Or better yet send a battalion of soldiers to kill the Brethren and wolf’s host on one of the many days each year when it isn't a full moon?
A couple of things stop Tooth and Claw sliding into mediocrity, the first is the Doctor and Rose. They are like best friends, laughing with delight at meeting Queen Victoria and both showing childish excitement at the werewolf. It’s funny when they have a bet about whether Rose can make Victoria say the words “I am not amused”, especially when the Doctor says “it’d be an abuse of my privileges as traveller in time” before accepting the bet when Rose raises the stakes. Unfortunately, the “not amused” gag is taken a bit far, especially when Rose says “I bet you’re not amused now?” to Victoria seconds after the Captain of her guard has just sacrificed his life for her.
But my highlight of Tooth and Claw is Pauline Collins’ performance as Queen Victoria. After appearing in The Faceless Ones, she was asked to continue as a companion, so there’s a parallel universe where a feisty scouser travels with the Doctor and Jamie rather Victoria Waterfield. After a Bafta winning career, it’s unlikely she dwells on her decision to turn down an ongoing role, but it’s good to see her back because she’s fantastic. She works really well with David Tennant because they both have the ability to switch seamlessly from humour to sadness; we see this in the dinner scene when they are both excited about hearing the tale of the werewolf, before she shows her sorrow at the death of her husband, Tennant’s eyes show the shared grief from the Time Lord who has also lost people who are dear to him.
Victoria rewards Rose and the Doctor by knighting them, the first companion to be so honoured since Sir Ian of Jaffa in The Crusade, before banishing them from her Empire because she believes they “consort with stars and magic and think it fun.” The Queen sets up an organisation called Torchwood to defend Great Britain and to protect them again the Doctor (but that’s another story).
I didn’t look forward to Tooth and Claw, but it’s a lot better than I remembered. The plot has more holes than a colander, but it’s still good fun and an entertaining watch. (7/10)

Discussion: Predicting Joker's Academy Award nominations

All of the major Oscar precursor awards have now either released nominations or given out their actual awards, so let's assess Joker's chances of scoring Oscar nominations in each category. Oscar nominations will be announced on January 13th.
Best Picture:
Joker has received Best Picture nominations from the Producers Guild of America (PGA), the British Academy Film Awards (BAFTA), the Critics' Choice Movie Awards, and the Golden Globes. It was also named as one of the Top 10 films of the year by the American Film Institute (AFI), and won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival. Joker did not receive a nomination for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Motion Picture from the Screen Actors Guild Awards (SAG), which is their Best Picture equivalent, but that was expected due to the film being a one man show, so it does not affect its chances. Up to 10 films can receive Oscar nominations for Best Picture, though usually you end up with either 8 or 9. Regardless, Best Picture seems like a safe bet.
Prediction: Yes
Best Actor:
Joaquin Phoenix has received Best Actor nominations from SAG, BAFTA, the Critics' Choice Movie Awards, and the Golden Globes, the latter of which he won. This is a lock for a nomination, and the film's biggest chance of winning a major Oscar.
Prediction: Yes
Best Actress/Supporting ActoSupporting Actress:
No offense to Robert De Niro, Zazie Beetz, or Frances Conroy, but this is a one man show.
Prediction: No
Best Director:
Todd Phillips has received Best Director nominations from BAFTA and the Golden Globes, but was left off the list for the Directors Guild of America (DGA) and the Critics' Choice Movie Awards. At this point, Bong Joon Ho (Parasite), Sam Mendes (1917), Martin Scorsese (The Irishman), and Quentin Tarantino (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood) are probably locks, all 4 received nominations from all 4 of the above awarding bodies. The 5th DGA nominee was Taika Waititi (Jojo Rabbit), while the Critics' Choice Movie Awards (which has a whopping 7 nominees) gave nominations to Noah Baumbach (Marriage Story), Greta Gerwig (Little Women), and the Safdie Brothers (Uncut Gems). Phillips is likely competing with Baumbach and Gerwig for that last spot (Waititi came out of nowhere for that DGA nomination, and isn't really deemed likely), and I think Baumbach has the edge with the more widely liked and less controversial Marriage Story.
Prediction: No
Best Adapted Screenplay:
Todd Phillips and Scott Silver have received Best Adapted Screenplay nominations from the Writers Guild of America Awards (WGA), BAFTA, and the Critics' Choice Movie Awards. They did not receive a Golden Globe nomination, but the Golden Globes does not differentiate between Original and Adapted Screenplay, so there are only 5 slots instead of 10, so it shouldn't hurt their chances too much.
Prediction: Yes
Best Film Editing:
Jeff Groth has received Best Editing nominations from the American Cinema Editors Awards (ACE) and the BAFTAS, but not the Critics' Choice Movie Awards. ACE does split its awards into Drama and Comedy or Musical, which leads to 10 nominees, while the Oscars do not. I think he has a shot, but this is a tossup.
Prediction: Yes
Best Cinematography:
Lawrence Sher has received Best Cinematography nominations from the American Society of Cinematographers, BAFTA, and the Critics' Choice Movie Awards. This is a good bet.
Prediction: Yes
Best Production Design:
Mark Friedberg has received Best Production Design nominations from the Art Directors Guild, BAFTA, and the Critics' Choice Movie Awards. Another good bet.
Prediction: Yes
Best Costume Design:
Joker has not received nominations from the Costume Designers Guild, BAFTA, or the Critics' Choice Movie Awards.
Prediction: No
Best Makeup and Hairstyling:
Joker has received Best Makeup and Hairstyling nominations from the Make-Up Artists and Hair Stylists Guild, BAFTA, and the Critics' Choice Movie Awards. This is also the category that infamously gave us the Academy Award-winning Suicide Squad.
Prediction: Yes
Best Original Score:
Hildur Guðnadóttir has received Best Original Score nominations from BAFTA, the Critics' Choice Movie Awards, and the Golden Globes, which she won. Another really safe bet here, and decent chance of winning too.
Prediction: Yes
Best Visual Effects:
Joker did receive a nomination from the Visual Effects Society for Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Feature Motion Picture, which is reserved for non-VFX heavy films. However, the Oscars do not differentiate between Visual Effects-Driven and Supporting Visual Effects, so it always favors VFX heavy films.
Prediction: No
Best Sound Editing:
Joker has received a Best Sound Editing nomination from the Motion Picture Sound Editors. However, they have multiple categories and 8 nominees per category, whereas the Oscars have 1 category with 5 nominees. BAFTA, which gives a Best Sound award and does not differentiate between Sound Editing and Sound Mixing, also nominated Joker. I truthfully don't know enough about this category to make a sound judgement, but I'm gonna flip a coin and say no.
Prediction: No
Best Sound Mixing:
Joker has received a Best Sound Mixing nomination from the Cinema Audio Society Awards. They have only one category encompassing all Live Action films, and 5 nominees. BAFTA, which gives a Best Sound award and does not differentiate between Sound Editing and Sound Mixing, also nominated Joker. Again, don't know much about this category, but it seems to have a better shot here, so I'm gonna flip a coin and say yes.
Prediction: Yes
Best Original Screenplay/Original Song/Animated Feature Film/International Feature Film/Documentary Feature/Live Action Short Film/Animated Short Film/Documentary Short Subject:
Ineligible
Prediction: No
Total Predicted Nominations: 9
Hard Yes: 7 (Best Picture/ActoAdapted Screenplay/Cinematography/Production Design/Makeup and Hairstyling/Original Score)
Soft Yes: 2 (Best Film Editing/Sound Mixing)
Soft No: 2 (Best DirectoSound Editing)
Hard No: 13 (Best Actress/Supporting ActoSupporting Actress/Original Screenplay/Costume Design/Visual Effects/Original Song/Animated Feature Film/International Feature Film/Documentary Feature/Live Action Short Film/Animated Short Film/Documentary Short Subject)

Oscar Watch: Pre-Nomination Edition + Spicy Predictions

Finally, after months of anticipation, rises, falls and more drama, we’re about to reach the moment many expected: the 25th Critics’ Choice Awards. Nah, just kidding. As everybody with stakes in Hollywood knows, Monday morning will bring the Oscar nominations, and we can see a part of the picture after seeing the nods of last week by influential groups like the producers of the PGA, the writers of the WGA, the directors of the DGA and the very white British voters of the BAFTAs.
It’s time to see what films look like locks, which ones will be forgotten by awards junkies after tomorrow, and which ones are in the middle of both sides.
-1917: Sam Mendes came here to play, y’all. Even though the WW1 one-take action drama got shut out of the SAGs, everything turned back around starting with surprising wins at the Golden Globes for Best Director and Best Drama. And the following days followed with a surprising nod for Best Original Screenplay at the WGA, as well as more expected nods like Best Picture at the PGAs and 9 BAFTAs, including Best Picture. Academy voters love war movies and tricky movies, so we can expect a healthy amount of Oscar nominations for this film, starting off with Best Picture and moving to other areas like Best Director, Best Original Score for Thomas “the Glenn Close of music” Newman, Best Cinematography by Film Twitter’s rock stasex god Roger Deakins, Best Sound Editing/Mixing (which will definitely win because of the scientific fact that it’s a loud flick), etc. On top of that, all this praise came at the right time to boost the movie’s opening weekend in the US, with a predicted 37 million dollars 3-day performance that will definitely have enough legs to make this look like a popular pick during voting time. It’s looking like the perfect storm for Universal, which sadly couldn’t score with Cats and has troubles ahead next week with Dolittle (what do you want, nobody told them there was a dragon).
-A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood: Tom Hanks got the Golden Globes nomination, the SAG nomination and the BAFTA nomination (as well as Brad Pitt, Joe Pesci and Al Pacino, making 4 of the 5 slots for Best Supporting Actor look like they’re claimed). It looks like this time is the time to end his Oscar nomination drought, but we’ve been fooled before. Still, we’ll bet on Mr. Rogers, even though the Academy forgot about almost everything else in Marielle Heller’s film (and that may also include the script, that luckily got a boost from a WGA nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay). In a fair world, Chris Cooper’s scumbag dad with regrets would have a shot too, but whatever.
-Bombshell: The Vice of 2019 is making it to the finish line, despite the fact that it’s pretty bad and it didn’t score at the box office. It didn’t score with the WGA, the PGA or the DGA, but Jay Roach’s “incisive” film about the harassment scandal at Fox News still has three guaranteed nominations: Charlize Theron’s uncanny Best Actress bait as Megyn Kelly, Margot Robbie’s weird and underdeveloped supporting role, and the guaranteed winner, the really convincing make-up and hairstyling. I have to stop writing about this movie, because I have bad flashbacks (DEEPFAKE CGI BILL O’REILLY, PEOPLE, MY NIGHTMARES).
-Booksmart: Before the tidbits, a little bit of trivia. Did you guys know that Olivia Wilde directed this movie? Shocking, I know. Going to the real news, many people were surprised this week when the script for the high school comedy got recognition by both the WGA and the BAFTAs, which nominated it for Best Original Screenplay. Even though the WGA excluded several movies (more on that later), this plants a seed for a potential shocker on Monday morning, so stay tuned.
-Dolemite Is My Name: It’s a shame, but it’s time to call it quits on the Best Actor campaign for Eddie Murphy. Without the boost of a Golden Globe win or nominations for the SAGs or the BAFTAs, it’s really hard to imagine his portrayal of Rudy Ray Moore in the Top 5 of the toughest category of this year’s Oscars. At least, we’ll get to see him be honored at the Critics’ Choice Awards, and he’ll surely get an Emmy for his hilarious SNL episode. Also, look out for Ruth Carter in Best Costume Design, it might get a nod.
-Ford v Ferrari: Josh Lucas’ stuffy suit is trying to stop it, but James Mangold’s car dad movie is gonna perform well at the technical Oscars, that’s for sure. But going beyond awards like Best Sound Editing or Best Sound Mixing, there’s potential for more. The PGA included FvF amongst the nominees for Best Theatrical Motion Picture, which is a great boost. And we know that people love to vote for Christian Bale, especially when he’s going back and forth between Big Chungus and a vampire victim. So we could potentially see a Best Picture nomination, but it is not a lock.
-Harriet: Cynthia Erivo’s waiting for the answer to one question, and it doesn’t have anything to do with the premiere of The Outsider, only on HBO. The question is this: Is she gonna get one Oscar nomination on Monday, or two? Even though her status in the Best Actress conversation depends on how well Saoirse Ronan, Awkwafina and Lupita Nyong’o perform, it’s virtually guaranteed that the track that she co-wrote for the movie, “Stand Up”, will get a Best Original Song nod. So it’s not wrong for her to start choosing what clothes to wear for Oscar night.
-Hustlers: Jenny From The Block is the only shot for the Lorene Scafaria movie to get an Oscar nod, and sadly the fight for the Best Supporting Actress prize is already lost. While the star-obsessed HFPA chose to not give Jennifer Lopez the award and started the Laura Dern televised speech train, she also missed a BAFTA nomination, although the British voters had their hands tied. What, isn’t it logical to literally give Margot Robbie (I mean, how complex and developed were those roles) AND Scarlett Johansson double nominations before inviting a single woman of color to the ceremony? Oh, wait a minute.
-Jojo Rabbit: Haters gonna hate, and Taika Waititi’s gonna anti-hate with a satire all the way to the Oscars. Even though the critics don’t like it that much and the box office has been underwhelming so far (31 million dollars worldwide for a 14 million dollar prestige production after two months is… meh), the WW2 film about a boy, his imaginary Hitler and the Jew girl in his attic has scored almost every single important nomination to lock a Best Picture nomination: the SAGs, the WGAs, the PGAs and, surprisingly, the DGAs, where Waititi took the spot that some people expected to be filled by Todd Phillips (ugh). Furthermore, the BAFTAs took the SAGs lead and also nominated Scarlett Johansson for Best Supporting Actress, which means the film has some traction in a fundamental area to reach a Best Picture win (you can’t have the BP without some actors, it is known). Between Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, possible Director and Supporting Actress nominations, and below-the-line stuff, you can make a really convincing case for a movie that, as I said last time, it's both edgy enough to get noticed, and safe enough to court old Academy members and apolitical people. That’s a dangerous combo.
-Joker: The Clown Prince of Crime struck again in the awards conversation, and took 11 nominations at the BAFTAs, as well as nominations in the PGAs and the WGAs for Best Adapted Screenplay. Between this, the Joaquin Phoenix bulldozer of Best Actor wins that started at the Golden Globes and a billion dollars, we have another Best Picture nomination locked. We have to see if Todd Phillips can get to Best Director (he got the BAFTA bounce), but noms for Best Original Score (the other Golden Globe win of the night, congrats Hildur) and Best Cinematography are secure. Add some below-the-line stuff, and you have a tempting case to award something about SOCIETY. The only thing that could stop things is Phoenix himself, who is this time actually committed to campaigning, but at the same time clearly gives less of a shit than the rest of the contenders, as seen with his winning speech at the Globes that ended up with him rambling about the contamination of private jets. With more speeches to come, it’ll be interesting to see if he keeps rambling or if Warner’s campaign crew will reign him a little.
-Judy: Speaking of winning campaigns, Renee Zellweger also started her own on the Golden Globes, with a rambling speech that was somehow weirder than the one mentioned before. Even though she’s a lock for Best Actress and she also got a BAFTA nomination, something’s off about the way in which she’s starting to sweep. This isn’t a comeback, she already won before… it really looks like Renee is gonna win an Oscar because everybody feels bad about the time in which the Internet made fun of how she looked. Is this gonna last all the way to February? We don’t know, but if she gets the SAG award, it’s all over.
-Just Mercy: While the Dustin Daniel Cretton legal drama based on true events was practically shut out of awards conversation (although it looks like it’s gonna score some decent digits at the box office), Jamie Foxx is one of several people who is looking for that last spot in the Best Supporting Actor category. Will he make it? The tension is too much to bear.
-Knives Out: While he continues to bathe in his haters’ tears, Rian Johnson is celebrating in several ways with the performance of his whodunnit. After crossing the 250 million dollars barrier the worldwide box office, and confirming that Johnson is starting to work on a sequel, the mystery comedy was nominated by both the PGA and the WGA. This could lead to not only a Best Original Screenplay nod for Rian, but also a Best Picture nomination for the popular flick. Now if you excuse me, I’m gonna eat some donut holes.
-Little Women: While Greta Gerwig can now be sure that her take on the literary classic is making money at the box office, its Oscar prospects look a little more shaky. Yes, the movie got PGA and WGA nominations, and both Saoirse Ronan and Florence Pugh got nominated for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress at the BAFTAs (although they ignored Gerwig for Director and the movie for Best Picture). But voters are ignoring this movie, and everything that’s not Gerwig’s adapted screenplay or below-the-line stuff doesn’t seem safe for some prognosticators. Still, the backlash for the snubs for female directors at the Golden Globes and other awards could help Gerwig, and a Best Picture nomination is possible, but it’s not a frontrunner or a lock.
-Marriage Story: The other half of the Gerwig-Baumbach duo is also not as strong as we thought a few weeks ago. Outside of the guaranteed Laura Dern win for Best Supporting Actress (that category is LOCKED, people, it’s gonna be a Dern coronation for the next month), the divorce dramedy is just happy to be nominated, stepping back from the frontrunner zone after it suffered the “too early on the front of the pack” problem, which lead to a backlash. Still, even though Baumbach is out of the Best Director conversation, the film scored nominations with the PGA and the WGA, so it’s still gonna get several nominations for Netflix. We’re talking locks for Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress, Best Original Screenplay and Best Original Score. Not too shabby.
-Once Upon a Time in Hollywood: People haven’t forgotten about Quentin Tarantino, and this week proved it. Between the three wins at the Golden Globes (Best Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor for Brad Pitt and Best Comedy/Musical), and nominations for the PGA, the DGA and the top prizes at the BAFTAs, everything catapulted the love letter to Los Angeles and the ‘60s to the front of the pack in the Best Picture conversation. Between the locks for Best Picture, Best Actor for Leo, Best Supporting Actor for Brad Pitt (who is gonna win if nobody shows up in the next week or two, because his speech and his interview with Leo in the WTF podcast were chaaaaaarmiiiiiing), Best Original Screenplay for Quentin (who got shut out of the WGA because he’s not a member), and more, we have a case for a winner. That’s a flick that appeals to the old members of the Academy because of nostalgia and a love for the movies, while also entices younger voters to finally recognize Tarantino with the top prize.
-Pain and Glory: Pedro Almodóvar has been in the past one of the international filmmakers that the Academy remembers, and tomorrow he’ll test if they still know him. While the WGAs (that excluded Pedro because he’s not a member), the DGAs and the PGAs ignored the movie (and the BAFTAs only gave it a nod for Best Foreign Film), Antonio Banderas is a strong possibility for a nomination for Best Actor, and Almodóvar could sneak to a Best Original Screenplay nod. We’ll wait and see.
-Parasite: The Bong Hive is growing in numbers, and it’s safe to say that Bong Joon-ho’s dark satire about capitalism is one of the locked frontrunners for the rest of the Best Picture race. After winning the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film (which led to yet another viral moment for Bong, after he and his translator Sharon Choi delivered a killer line about the one-inch barrier of subtitles), the movie got nominations for the DGAs, the WGAs, the PGAs and the top prizes at the BAFTAs. Coupled with the SAG nominations, the critics awards and a healthy US box office gross that will end up close to 30 million dollars, this is one of the big dogs in the race. Now, the nominations will give us an idea of how beloved this film really is, because people have been talking about a Best Supporting Actor nomination for Song Kang Ho, and Cho Yeo Jeong still has a shot to surprise in the Best Supporting Actress category, a la Marina de Tavira. You can do it, Bong.
-Rocketman: TEN. MONTHS. That’s how long so far Taron Egerton and Elton John have been campaigning for Oscars towards the latter’s musical biopic, starting with a performance that literally took place on the night of the last Academy Awards. Since then, the duo have been sucking up to every single voting member of every single organization, attending every event and making some questionable ones, including when Egerton invited every single member of the HFPA to his birthday, which turned out to be a covert Elton concert.. and Taron’s birthday wasn’t even that day. Well, even though it was desperate, the gambit by them and Paramount is working, because Taron suddenly jumped to grab the edge of the Best Actor category following a win at the Golden Globes for Best Actor in a Musical/Comedy, and a BAFTA nod for Best Actor that adds up to the nod from the SAGs. Taron fought back against an early May release date, the worries of following the success of Bohemian Rhapsody and a stacked competition, while Elton will surely get another Oscar nod with his original song “I’m Gonna Love Me Again”, which also won a Globe. I guess that’s why they call it the blues, indeed (?)
-The Farewell: Every year, there’s a Sundance movie that everybody loves and hypes up and waits for it to get nominated for several Oscars, and then nothing happens. This could happen with Lulu Wang’s culture clash dramedy, which didn’t get nominated for the PGAs, or the WGAs (although that had more to do with the fact that Lulu isn’t a member of the guild, so her movie’s original screenplay was excluded), or the DGAs, or the BAFTAs (apart from Best Foreign Language Film). Awkwafina helped to build some hope with a win at the Golden Globes for Best Actress in a Musical/Comedy, but there’s this awful feeling about the last spot of the Best Actress category, which basically became a fight between women of color while people like Renee Zellweger and Charlize Theron (which, come on, those two performances do not deserve it) are comfortably safe. Zhao Shuzhen could also get snubbed for Best Supporting Actress, because she’s not hitting the important nominations. So, this movie could get 3 nominations, or nothing. To quote the following movie, it is what it is.
-The Irishman: After all the hype, the discourse and the nominations, Martin Scorsese’s farewell to gangsters is another lock for Best Picture, with this week bringing nominations for the DGAs, the WGAs, the PGAs and the top prizes at the BAFTAs. But even though this sounds encouraging, it’s fair to say that Marty’s movie has slowed down in the race, and it didn’t help that it didn’t win anything at the Golden Globes. Also, it seems like Robert De Niro is not gonna make it to the Best Actor category, so that’s a big sign of how things are not as high as it seemed a month ago. Still, this is gonna be one of the most nominated movies of this year’s ceremony, so Scorsese could still paint houses all the way to a victory, if older Academy voters don’t split the votes between this, OUATIH and 1917.
-The Lighthouse: Willem Dafoe is getting farther away from the last spot in Best Supporting Actor, but the film could still make the Best Cinematography category. A BAFTA nomination helps the case.
-The Two Popes: You have to look out for those popes, because they are a wild card. They didn’t win at the Globes, or get nominated for the PGAs, the WGAs or the DGAs, but they still scored BAFTA nominations for Jonathan Pryce, Anthony Hopkins and the script from Anthony McCarten. This is a movie that 5 or 6 years ago would have definitely scored a Best Picture nomination, but this year is less certain. Still, it hangs on at the edges of several categories, while McCarten’s adapted screenplay is more likely to get nominated.
-Uncut Gems: I can’t make a joke about this movie because I have to wait like a chump until it releases on Netflix on the 31st, but I can say that Adam Sandler’s touch at the box office is helping a lot to make the Safdie bros’ thriller stay in the conversation. While the movie is set to become the highest grossing A24 movie in the US, Sandler’s still making the rounds, collecting critics prizes, being charming. A Best Actor nomination could still be the big shock to end all shocks on Monday morning.
-Us: Lupita Nyong’o is hanging on to the Best Actress category, assisting to every event, showing up to every interview. She’s more known and better regarded than Awkwafina, and people know and like her movie more than Cynthia Erivo’s. After the SAG nomination, will it end up in an Oscar nod? It’s not certain, but I personally bet that she gets the last spot. We still have to see what kind of shocks come tomorrow.
Technical(ly) contenders: Ad Astra, Avengers: Endgame, Downton Abbey, The Lighthouse.
Check the pulse: Just Mercy.
This had Oscar buzz: Seberg, The Laundromat, The Goldfinch, Lucy in the Sky, Motherless Brooklyn, The Aeronauts, The Report, Cats, Queen and Slim, Dark Waters, Waves, The King, Honey Boy.
And now, before the end, some predictions of my own for the nominations in several categories. Feel free to add your own.
BEST PICTURE: Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Parasite, 1917, The Irishman, Joker, Marriage Story, Jojo Rabbit, Little Women, Knives Out
BEST DIRECTOR: Bong Joon-ho, Parasite - Sam Mendes, 1917 - Martin Scorsese, The Irishman - Quentin Tarantino, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood - Greta Gerwig, Little Women
BEST ACTOR: Joaquin Phoenix, Joker - Adam Driver, Marriage Story - Leonardo DiCaprio, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood - Antonio Banderas, Pain and Glory - Taron Egerton, Rocketman
BEST ACTRESS: Renee Zellweger, Judy - Scarlett Johansson, Marriage Story - Charlize Theron, Bombshell - Saoirse Ronan, Little Women - Lupita Nyong’o, Us
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Brad Pitt, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood - Joe Pesci, The Irishman - Tom Hanks, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood - Al Pacino, The Irishman - Song Kang Ho, Parasite
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Laura Dern, Marriage Story - Jennifer Lopez, Hustlers - Margot Robbie, Bombshell - Florence Pugh, Little Women - Cho Yeo Jeong, Parasite
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Parasite, Marriage Story, Knives Out, 1917
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: The Irishman, Jojo Rabbit, Little Women, The Two Popes, Joker
BEST EDITING: The Irishman, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Ford v Ferrari, Parasite, Jojo Rabbit
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE: Toy Story 4, Frozen 2, How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, I Lost My Body, Klaus
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE: 1917, Marriage Story, Joker, Little Women, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
BEST ORIGINAL SONG: “I’m Gonna Love Me Again”, Rocketman - “Into the Unknown”, Frozen 2 - “Spirit”, The Lion King - “Stand Up”, Harriet - “Speechless”, Aladdin
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS: Avengers: Endgame, The Lion King, 1917, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Alita: Battle Angel
Closing question: What will be the big surprise on Monday morning? Past examples: Phantom Thread getting into Best Picture, Ruth Negga nominated for Best Actress, Cold War sneaking to the Best Director category.

Brad Bird (Director of 'The Incredibles') Reveals That His Next Project Will Be a Musical Based on an Original IP

Production timeline of a film: The Dark Knight (2008)

edit: Thank you for the gold kind stranger!
Hi folks, thanks to the great response to my previous post for Batman Begins, I've decided the logical choice for the next post to be for the sequel.
I was originally going to do The Lord of the Rings trilogy but the vast amount of information will probably keep me reading up on it throughout the rest of the month. It's a wildly interesting read nevertheless.
Once again, many thanks to Jett from batman-on-film.com for his outstanding updates throughout the years. Let's get on to it...
Post Batman Begins
2005
Jun: Batman Begins is released to both critical and commercial success. Warner Bros. is reportedly "thrilled" by its reception and immediately greenlights a sequel to the reboot. Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Gary Oldman and Morgan Freeman all are signed to 3 picture deals starting with 'Begins'. Warner also signs its writer David Goyer to pen the story immediately after the second week of its release. The only question?: Will Christopher Nolan be back?
It may seem to be a given, but Nolan has a fair share of projects he'd like to work on including his adaptation of the Christopher Priest novel 'The Prestige', which will reportedly star Jude Law. He is also hoping to resurrect his Howard Hughes project now that Scorsese's 'The Aviator' has been away from theaters.
Warner Bros. would love to have a sequel ready for release by summer of 2007, but that would mean fast tracking the project, echoing the two year journey from Batman Forever (1995) to the disastrous Batman & Robin (1997). In Warner's mind, Nolan did his job in rebooting a tired franchise in 8 years and delivered a film that will not easily be topped. The question that remains will be if Warner Bros. can be patient for Nolan to return to the franchise even if it takes a few years longer than a sequel would normally be made?
'Begins' sets an Imax release 5 day record, which could pique the interest of motion picture studios to release their tentpole films in Imax formats in the near future.
July: Warner Bros. President Alan Horn gives an interview with Fox News(http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,162604,00.html), confirming the next film(s) will stay in tone with Batman Begins, alleviating fans fears among reports/rumors the studio is looking to go lighter in tone a la the previous films.

"Batman Begins," he said, had to be "about Batman's dark side, about the Dark Knight. We couldn't go back to what had happened before." He meant to "Batman Forever" (1995, starring Val Kilmer) and "Batman and Robin" (1997, with George Clooney). "They were terrible," he said. "But we're also the studio that made 'Catwoman' and 'Pluto Nash,'" he said with a chuckle. "Everybody makes mistakes."

Rumors and message board speculation aplenty as Katie Holmes is reportedly not returning for the sequel and Steve Carell's name is added to the list of "Joker candidates", joining Sean Penn, Paul Bettany, Johnny Depp, Crispin Glover, and Lachy Hulme to the 'wishlist' made by fans across the net.
August: Some newsworthy bits make the rounds as Cillian Murphy gives his first interview on the sequel and if he has been contacted about appearing as the Scarecrow again (he has not heard anything yet).
Steve Carell speaks out on the rumors of his involvement as the Joker.

"I just heard that for the first time this morning and I had no… Yeah! That would be hilar - I would love to do that! But I doubt that it's true. (Laughs) ... No, he's [possibly Charles Roven] never said anything about that, so I think that's probably completely fabricated. But I love it. I love the rumor. That would be cool. (laughs)"

AiCN reports Christopher Nolan's next film will undoubtedly be 'The Prestige', which will either have him not returning to do the sequel to 'Begins' or the studio would wait another year for him to finish work on this film.
Producer Charles Roven gives a brief statement to the Chicago Sun Times that the sequel will return to Chicago as the backdrop to Gotham City.

Will Batman return to Chicago to shoot on location for a proposed sequel to "Batman Begins," starring Christian Bale again as the Caped Crusader? Save a parking spot for the Batmobile on Lower Wacker. "We're definitely talking about doing another Batman," says producer Chuck Roven. "And we love Chicago...Chicago was fantastic to us last time."

Sep: Famed Batman writer Frank Miller, which Begins was heavily influenced by his 'Year One' arc, [gave his opinion](www.nowplayingmag.com/content/view/2116/2/) on 'Batman Begins'.

"I totally thought they did a damned good job [on that movie]," says Miller. "It was the first 'Batman' movie I've genuinely liked. I sat there, I watched it, and I came out of there going, 'Well done, man.' Sure, they used my stuff – they used everybody's stuff, but they used my stuff a lot – but they did it well, and that's all I care about. It was Batman. What I mean by that is, I thought the character was true. You understand, when I work on a character, I have a very, very hard time seeing anybody else's interpretation. I get very possessive. But when I went out to see this thing, I said, 'This is a pretty cool Batman.' I wasn't sitting there going, 'This is a merchandising tool.' I felt like it really had heart and substance, and Christian Bale with no doubt performed the best Batman I have ever seen."

Bloody-disgusting.com reports Crispin Glover shot down rumors of his involvement as a potential Joker candidate with Warner Bros.

"The rumors that he will play the Joker in the next Batman were also shot down. According to Crispin, they are strictly internet based but he would love the opportunity to do it. He hopes that the buzz might rub off on the studio."

Sequel title rumors are thrown around heavily revolving around 3 potential titles: 'Batman Attacks', 'Batman Strikes', and 'Batman Escalation'. All 3 are met with lukewarm responses from the fan community.
Oct: "The Prestige" is officially announce as Christopher Nolan's next film and will star his 'Begins' star Christian Bale, as well as Wolverine from the X-Men franchise, Hugh Jackman as rival magicians. This all but confirms that Nolan will return to work on the sequel after this film as Bale would not have signed on without Warner Bros.' approval knowing they would have to film the sequel the same time if the project was fast-tracked. Warner is making a smart business decision by waiting for the creative minds to move on their own pace.
THR quotes Warner exec Jeff Robinov as saying "Chris Nolan is going to come in and tell us what the next 'Batman' will be today".
Christopher Nolan speaks with IGN filmforce about the sequel as well as about.com

Two villians, or just The Joker? "I wouldn’t want to talk about any specifics per se. All I can really say is it’s a film we’re talking about doing." Will WB make the same mistakes with this series that they did with the last one? "Well, to me it’s more about the filmmakers and their collaboration with the studio. I don’t think you can necessarily lay all the blame at the feet of the studio or all the blame at the feet of the filmmakers. With franchise properties, with the idea of sequels, as I see it, the only reason to do a sequel is to do something better than the film you’ve made before. That’s the reason you have to be doing it, with that kind of intention. That’s the only way in which I would enter into the process." Can Robin be used without dumbing down the thing? "Possibly, but I can’t really talk about specifics."

Boxofficemojo has another interview with Nolan about the sequel.

"I can't talk about it. These are very early days. I'm going to do THE PRESTIGE first—about a couple of magicians who become involved in sabotaging each other acts, set in turn of the century London—and then we'll be looking at doing a BATMAN picture. Batman is positive, but I believe that, in the first couple of years, he's going to find an increasingly negative response from society, because the truth is that, when you have a powerful, negative city like Gotham, it didn't become corrupt by accident, and those entrenched people are going to respond very vigorously."

Dec: Christian Bale breaks his silence on the sequel and talks about Batman to IFMagazine.

"It's all that kind of deal where I'll get it in the head if I talked," laughs Bale.

One thing Bale was extremely pleased with was the support fans gave him and director Christopher Nolan’s dark, art-house-like superhero film and hopes the next film will continue in that vein.
"We know now that people have supported what we achieved," admits the actor. "I have to say though that I always like the idea of not knowing if people are going to like it and then that gives me a certain drive to improve what I believe the correct way of bringing the character about. I like the slightly self-destructive notion of like, 'You know what, I'm going to do this regardless and if people don't like it then well I'm out. That's it.' I'm kind of enjoying that possibility and that will always be there, but we can't help that recognize that we're probably on slightly safer ground now with the second one. But in doing that there's the great danger of becoming too comfortable and obviously with the second one you have to outdo the first one."
The key for Bale is progressing with the character and story.
"You have to keep on moving forward and pressing on and finding new and impressive character points and storylines, but I've got real confidence," says Bale. "I think that Chris is such a smart man and when I did finally get into the game I would have certain questions about why he was doing something and not quite understanding it. He would explain it to me and it would be like, 'Now that he's said it's so obvious. That really works. Yeah.' So I have great faith in him that he will be pulling something out of the hat that will be even better than the first one."
2006
Jan: USAToday does an interview with Adrien Brody where the actor essentially throws his name into the Joker hat.

"I watched BATMAN BEGINS," said the actor when asked what movie he last watched. "I thought it was really cool. I would love to play The Joker. I think he would be deformed and creepier."

Feb: Variety reports David Goyer has written a treatment for the sequel and Jonathan Nolan, brother of the director's, will pen the screenplay.

Warner Bros. Pictures is already planning the next installments to “Batman Begins” and “Superman Returns,” with respective helmers Christopher Nolan and Bryan Singer in line to return.

Neither director’s deal is closed; the studio has hired Jonah Nolan — Christopher’s brother — to pen the screenplay for the untitled “Batman” project. Studio has options on “Batman Begins” star Christian Bale and “Superman Returns” star Brandon Routh.
Next installment in the Caped Crusader franchise is further along in the process since “Batman Begins” was released last summer; Singer’s “Superman Returns,” now in post, doesn’t bow until June 30.
It’s not clear when the “Batman Begins” sequel would begin shooting, although it would likely start production and be released before the “Superman” sequel.
Christopher Nolan is presently shooting “The Prestige,” a Disney release that Jonah Nolan scripted from a Christopher Priest novel.
“Batman Begins” co-writers David Goyer and Christopher Nolan wrote a treatment for the sequel. Goyer, who recently completed “The Invisible” for Touchstone, also is set to write and direct “The Flash” for Warners.
Mar: Actor Tom Wilkenson speaks to Empire Magazine about his character from Begins and if he is interested in returning for the sequel.

"I rather liked him [Falcone]. I kind of thought it was fun to play...I thought it was a great role. [As far as returning for the sequel], my character’s mad and possibly dead so I don’t think so."

Jun: Robin Williams throws his hat into the Joker mix as well. Speaking to IGN UK: "Oh God, I'd love to do that one. Well, you want to do a different Joker. You know, if they do 'Arkham Asylum,' it would be amazing. 'Arkham Asylum' is one of the greatest, nastiest comic books ever."
Jul: In an interview with Turner Classic Movies, Michael Caine lets slip of the villain of the sequel.

"...there are three pictures I want to do, small parts. One [Children of Men, released September 2006] is with Alfonso Cuaron who directed Y tu Mama Tambien, I wanted to work with him and then Christopher Nolan who directed Batman is doing a smaller film called The Prestige about magicians and it’s very interesting. And we’re going to make The Joker next year."

July 20th 2006: During Comic-Con in San Diego, LatinoReview breaks the news of the coveted role of the Joker going to Heath Ledger. Also noted is the production title of the sequel will be 'Rory's First Kiss'.
July 20 - July 23: The internet freaks out.
August 1st, 2006: Warner Bros. sends out a press release regarding the casting and the title for the sequel to 'Begins'.

As a follow up to last year’s blockbuster Batman Begins, Christopher Nolan is set to direct Warner Bros. Pictures’ The Dark Knight, written by Jonathan Nolan, based on a story by Christopher Nolan and David Goyer. The film will be produced by Emma Thomas, Charles Roven and Christopher Nolan. Additionally, Christian Bale will resume his role as Bruce Wayne and Academy Award nominee Heath Ledger has been cast as The Joker. The announcements were made today by Jeff Robinov, President of Production, Warner Bros. Pictures.

Christopher Nolan revamped the Batman franchise in 2005 with the immensely successful Batman Begins, starring Christian Bale in the title role, which chronicled the early years of the superhero. Nolan first garnered attention from critics and fans in 2000 with the groundbreaking drama Memento, which he wrote and directed. He went on to direct the thriller Insomnia, starring Al Pacino and Robin Williams, and recently wrapped production on The Prestige, with Hugh Jackman and Bale.
Bale was most recently seen in the ensemble cast of Terrence Malick’s The New World. His other credits include Little Women, Portrait of a Lady, Metroland, American Psycho, Laurel Canyon and Steven Spielberg’s Empire of the Sun, which was his first starring role.
Ledger most recently earned Oscar Golden Globe, BAFTA and SAG Award nominations and won the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Ennis Del Mar in the award-winning drama Brokeback Mountain. His other credits include Casanova, Monster’s Ball, Lords of Dogtown, The Brothers Grimm and The Patriot.
“Chris’ unique vision is what made Batman Begins such an outstanding film and we could not imagine anyone else at the helm of The Dark Knight,” said Robinov. “We also can’t wait to see two such formidable actors as Christian and Heath face off with each other as Batman and The Joker.” “I'm excited to continue the story we started with Batman Begins,” added Nolan. “Our challenge in casting The Joker was to find an actor who is not just extraordinarily talented but fearless. Watching Heath Ledger's interpretation of this iconic character taking on Christian Bale’s Batman is going to be incredible.”
Production is set to begin on The Dark Knight in early 2007.
Pre-Production
Sep: David Goyer gives a brief update on the project to CBR news.

How about THE DARK KNIGHT? Chris Nolan's finished with THE PRESTIGE and Heath Ledger has been cast as the Joker. I'm guessing the two of you and screenwriter Jonathan Nolan will be getting together pretty soon?

“That's already been done.”
Has the story already been completely worked out?
“It's gone into Jonathan's hands and it's now out of Jonathan's hands and now in Chris' hands.”
Have you had a chance to look over the final product and make some additional suggestions?
“Yup. It's really further along than people may think.”
Heath Ledger finally breaks his silence after being cast as the iconic Joker to the Toronto Star newspaper.

"It's definitely going to stump people. I think it'll be more along the lines of how the Joker was meant to be in the comics, darker and more sinister."

“I wouldn't have thought of me, either. But it's obviously not going to be what Jack Nicholson did. It's going to be more nuanced and dark and more along the lines of A Clockwork Orange kind of feel. Which is, I think, what the comic book was after: less about his laugh and more about his eyes.”
"I actually hate comic book movies, like f**ing hate them, they just bore me sh*less and they're just dumb. But I thought what Chris Nolan did with [BATMAN BEGINS] was actually really good, really well directed, and Christian Bale was really great in it."
"He's going to be really sinister and it's going to be less about his laugh and his pranks and more about just him being a just a f***ing sinister guy."
[Asked if he decides to do a big movie like this, because of agent pressure.] "I'm sure they're super happy that I'm doing this [THE DARK KNIGHT], because this is the first time I've really kind of taken something like that, so they're over the moon. But I think it's just going to be a really fun experience, and I love to dress up and wear a mask."
[How will his Joker look?] "I've seen a few interesting designs on the look and I think that it's going to look pretty cool."
"When he explained to me the angle he wanted to take, I was like, 'Yeah, I could do that,'" Ledger says. "[Nolan's] going to make it a lot more sinister, and we've got a little plan for him, but it's exciting. Any opportunity to don a mask is always exciting to me."
[BATMAN (1989)] was dominated by Jack Nicholson's acclaimed performance as the psychotic villain, but Ledger isn't intimidated by his predecessor's turn.
"I love, love, love what Nicholson did," Ledger says. "[But] his performance was catering to the style of directing the movie was made under. It was a Tim Burton film. It wasn't Chris Nolan."
Oct: During a Q&A for 'The Prestige', Nolan answers briefly about questions regarding 'The Dark Knight'.

Is Harvey Dent in the film - "I don't want to go into too many specifics. Yes, he is."

Will Dent be played by an American, Aussie, or Brit, and has an actor been cast? - “You’ll see” and “Not yet.”
Does it tie into BATMAN BEGINS? - “It does, absolutely. It's a pretty direct continuation of where the last film left off, and the last scene of BATMAN BEGINS suggests a strong direction we wanted to take the story in. It absolutely carries on with a lot of the thematic concerns and hopefully takes it someplace new.”

Nov: Composer Hans Zimmer gives an interview to soundtrack.net on what we can expect for the next film music wise.

You mentioned before that you were probably going to be working on The Dark Knight, but it's not certain... "Nothing is ever certain. They haven't even finished the script yet."

Assuming you do it, though, would you be able pull James Newton Howard back in? "Absolutely! I should say we are doing Batman. I wouldn't leave home without him!"
In the score to the first film, the main "Batman" theme only shows up towards the end, kind of like a springboard for the second film... "Absolutely, that's the whole idea. It's Batman Begins! There's a whole theme that's written and on purpose not in the movie. We were basically betting that this movie might work out alright and there would be another one, so we wanted the character to develop. He hasn't earned that theme yet!"
Dec: According to the Chicago Tribune, Warner Bros. has committed to shooting 'The Dark Knight' in Chicago for its Gotham City portions a la 'Begins'.
2007
Jan: Variety breaks the news that Katie Holmes will not return as Rachel Dawes and will instead star in the film 'Mad Money' with Queen Latifah. What will happen with the character remains to be seen.
Feb: LA Daily News reports Christopher Nolan's 'The Dark Knight' will begin filming in April of this year.
THR and Variety report Aaron Eckhart has won the role of Harvey Dent in the upcoming film. Maggie Gyllenhaal is in negotiations to replace Holmes as Rachel Dawes.
Variety additionally breaks the news Warner Bros. has commissioned a Justice League project from screenwriters, Kiernan and Michele Mulroney. Apparently this film will have nothing to do with the Nolan films and will be its separate entity/universe.
MSNBC.com talks to Ledger about the Joker

As the Joker in the new "Batman" movie, have you tried on the mask yet? "Metaphorically, yes. I've been bouncing around like a lunatic for four months. I definitely have a different take on him, but I've yet to do a proper makeup run. It's on the agenda."

Do you walk around the house all day practicing your laugh? "I'd be lying if I said I haven't been."
April 13th, 2007: Principal Photography begins in Chicago.
Tons of set reports by Chicago citizens flood the message boards as the two week shooting schedule in Chicago is ripe for discussion. Apparently Nolan and his crew are seen with Imax cameras for a scene on a rooftop and inside of a national bank. Many report seeing actor William Fichtner on set filming scenes for the film.
According to LA Daily News, Eric Roberts has been cast as a 'Mafia Kingpin'.
Christian Bale speaks with IESB.net

On working with Heath Ledger: "Absolutely, he is a great choice for it. I like it personally. Heath has a really crazy take for playing that role. He’s going to do something really different with it."

Will we see more detective work from Batman?: (Bale picks up water bottle, starts drinking; laughter in room) "Is that clear enough?"
On playing The Batman again: "You know, I think that you got see with the other versions. You know it wasn’t my cup of tea anyway, you know, it didn’t really keep it going but I got Chris Nolan, whom I’m working with for the third time now. He ain’t going to be making a movie if he’s not going to do something very different with it, which he states. Actually, I’m very much liking the idea because I’m having the pros playing the role before. So I know it already and obviously there will be progress. We got a great cast, and Chris and I work very well together, so I know that we are going to find an awful lot to add to it. It’s certainly not the last thing is treading water, but what we have now, we were confident before in what we wanted to do but other people didn’t know, it was untested now other people support us too so we have all of that extra support behind us to sort of let rip and take it through."
May: The official website for The Dark Knight goes live with its first look at the logo for the film.
May 20th, 2007: The first look at Ledger as the Joker appears online.
Warner Bros. mysteriously posts the domain http://www.seeyouindecember.com/ on its http://www.ibelieveinharveydenttoo.com site.
Warner Bros. officially announces 'The Dark Knight' will be the first feature film to be shot partly with IMAX cameras.

"All directors promise that their sequels will be bigger and flashier than the predecessors'. But Christopher Nolan doesn't mess around.

The director's sequel to Batman Begins -- The Dark Knight -- will become the first feature film to be partly shot in the IMAX format, an expensive and cumbersome process that typically is the province of documentaries and short films.
Nolan will shoot four action sequences — including the introduction of The Joker, played by Heath Ledger — on IMAX. The move is one of Hollywood's most pronounced steps yet in its embrace of IMAX theaters, which are increasingly showing commercial fare on their giant screens.
'There's simply nothing like seeing a movie that way,' Nolan says. 'It's more immersive for the audience. I wish I could shoot the entire thing this way.'
'Batman has some of the most extraordinary characters in pop culture. We wanted The Joker to have the grandest entrance possible.'"
Jun: Entertainment Weekly magazine releases the first ever look at the new batsuit worn by Christian Bale in the film. They also release a photo of the Bat-pod.
Jul: Despite not setting up an official panel at the famed San Diego Comic-Con, Warner Bros. begins its marketing blitz for the film in the area. A skywritten message on the sky prompted curious onlookers to dial the number written and directed to a voicemail from the Joker looking for candidates who are worthy of "tryouts".
WhySoSerious.com becomes the next site to pop up in the viral marketing.
On the 2nd day of Comic-Con, the teaser trailer finally hits and makes top headlines. The Dark Knight, despite not physically being there, dominates discussion at the media/fan heavy event.
Aug: Excitement on the net as 18 photos are somehow leaked to the mainstream, and despite Warner Bros.' effort to try and contain them, they're spreading at a rapid pace.
Sep: Distressing news, as a crew member of 'The Dark Knight' has passed away from a tragic accident.
Via Warner Bros.: "There was a fatal accident at a special effects facility for THE DARK KNIGHT. A technician on the film died when the truck he was in struck a tree following a test run. Warner Bros Pictures and the entire cast and crew of The Dark Knight are deeply saddened by this tragedy, and their hearts and prayers go out to the family and loved ones of the deceased."
Principal Photography wraps after filming in Hong Kong for a 'heist' sequence.
Post Production
Nov: Empire Magazine shows off the first full glimpse of The Joker in their new issue, to hit stands in January.
Christian Bale is cast as John Connor for the next installment in the Terminator franchise. Discussion arises about the status of the third Batman film with Bale's schedule growing smaller by the day.
Dec: The Dark Knight prologue, filmed in IMAX cameras entirely, makes its debut in front of I Am Legend screenings only at IMAX theaters. The trailer comes at the end of the prologue.
A full length trailer makes its debut online.
2008
Jan: MTV catches up with Mark Hamill on his thoughts on Ledger's Joker. "For all those fans that dreamed of an adult approach to the material, BATMAN BEGINS got nearly everything right. I have no doubt this one will be just as good or better. The balls-out debauched psycho approach seems like a great way of reinventing everyone’s favorite scary (and scar-y) clown. [I] can’t wait to see it."
Warner Bros. is reportedly undecided on whether they would like to shelve the George Miller 'Justice League: Mortal' film or continue on with it.
January 22nd, 2008: Fans are stunned to the announcement of Heath Ledger's death.
Warner Bros. releases the first statement along with a tribute memorial on the official website: http://thedarkknight.warnerbros.com/HeathMemorial.html
Christopher Nolan writes a tribute message for Ledger in Newsweek as a guest columnist: http://www.newsweek.com/charisma-natural-gravity-87331
Feb*: USAToday examines the options for the studio in marketing the late actor's character for the summer blockbuster.
Christian Bale will not be the one to play the titular character in Gotham Knight, as veteran and fan favorite Batman actor, Kevin Conroy will once again play the role that made him famous. The anime film will consist of several segments, all directed by different auteurs.
Mar: The marketing team moves to focus on Harvey Dent by outlying Aaron Eckhart's schedule to appear in person (and in character) at designated rallies: http://www.ibelieveinharveydent.com/ontheroad.aspx
DarkHorizons reports the final cut of the film is somewhere between 160-180 minutes.
The latest on viral sites: http://www.whysoserious.com/itsallpartoftheplan/
http://www.gpdmcu.com/operationslipknot/
http://www.gothamintercontinentalhotel.com/
http://gothamcablenews.com/
Apr: The 3rd and final full length trailer makes its debut
Jun: Only a month away from release, Rolling Stone magazine's critic, Peter Travers, releases the first review for the film, exciting fans across the internet with the header: "Heads up: a thunderbolt is about to rip into the blanket of bland we call summer movies."
July 18th, 2008 - July 23rd, 2008: 'The Dark Knight' releases to an all time box office record of $158 million in its opening weekend and making $400 million worldwide in only its 18th day of release. Critical and commercial reception is at a stratospheric high for the franchise. One can only wonder where the story goes on now...
Thanks for taking the time to read it all if you've done so, properly spent my Sunday morning with sore hands now. Logically, I guess the next one would be the time between this film and The Dark Knight Rises. However, just glancing at a few tepid crazy rumors ("Miley Cyrus will be Batgirl!" or "Chris Nolan hates Christian Bale and wants Sam Worthington to play Bruce Wayne!!"), the sheer amount of news/rumors/bullsh*t that came from this time period will be absolutely exhausting by the time its said and done.
That and please leave more suggestions if you have other films you would like for me to report on, from its concept to the release. Cheers and have a good rest of the Sunday to you.

My 89th Annual Oscars Predictions

2019 Oscars - Final Predictions

I realize there's a pre-Oscars discussion thread, but I still wanted to put all my predictions together because I'm vain.
Summary at the bottom if you don't want to read the whole thing.
Best Picture

Roma
Black Panther
Green Book
BlacKkKlansman
A Star is Born
Bohemian Rhapsody
The Favourite
Vice

Should win: Roma
Definitely can't be confident in Roma winning, but it's really hard to decide what the runner-up could be. I'm perhaps unusual in having Black Panther at #2, but I think it'll benefit from high rankings. Don't understand why so many have The Favourite high in their predictions - it's still a Lanthimos movie and I bet divisive among more traditional voters. Honestly however, I think everything except for Vice has at least the tiniest chance, so wide-open. We need more years like this! (Just with better movies next time, please)
Director

Alfonso Cuaron (Roma)
Spike Lee (BlacKkKlansman)
Yorgos Lanthimos (The Favourite)
Pawel Pawlikowski (Cold War)
Adam McKay (Vice)

Should win: Alfonso Cuaron (Roma)
Actress

Glenn Close (The Wife)
Olivia Colman (The Favourite)
Lady Gaga (A Star is Born)
Melissa McCarthy (Can You Ever Forgive Me?)
Yalitza Aparicio (Roma)

Should win: Yalitza Aparicio (Roma)
Or McCarthy, can't decide between the two
Actor

Rami Malek (Bohemian Rhapsody)
Christian Bale (Vice)
Bradley Cooper (A Star is Born)
Viggo Mortensen (Green Book)
Willem Dafoe (At Eternity's Gate)

Should win: ~~Ethan Hawke (First Reformed)~~ Bradley Cooper (A Star is Born)
Supporting Actress

Regina King (If Beale Street Could Talk)
Rachel Weisz (The Favourite)
Marina de Tavira (Roma)
Amy Adams (Vice)
Emma Stone (The Favourite)

Should win: Regina King (If Beale Street Could Talk)
Supporting Actor

Mahershala Ali (Green Book)
Richard E. Grant (Can You Ever Forgive Me?)
Adam Driver (BlacKkKlansman)
Sam Elliott (A Star is Born)
Sam Rockwell (Vice)

Should win: Richard E. Grant (Can You Ever Forgive Me?)
Hard to resist the temptation to switch to Grant, seeing how he was picked by the vast majority of the anonymous ballots... him not even being able to win the BAFTA gives me pause.
Adapted Screenplay

BlacKkKlansman
Can You Ever Forgive Me?
If Beale Street Could Talk
A Star is Born
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs

Should win: Can You Ever Forgive Me?
Or If Beale Street Could Talk, this is the other one I can't decide
Original Screenplay

First Reformed
The Favourite
Green Book
Roma
Vice

Should win: First Reformed
Yes, I realize I'm insane, but I could see a shock victory a la Ex Machina in VFX due to major vote-splitting.

"You miss 100% of the shots you don't take"
- Wayne Gretzky

- Michael Scott

- Paul Schrader

Cinematography

Roma
Cold War
The Favourite
A Star is Born
Never Look Away

Should win: Roma
Costume Design

Black Panther
The Favourite
Mary Poppins Returns
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
Mary Queen of Scots

Should win: Black Panther
Production Design

Black Panther
The Favourite
Roma
First Man
Mary Poppins Returns

Should win: Black Panther
Honestly, just flip a coin on this and Costume Design.
Editing

Vice
Bohemian Rhapsody
BlacKkKlansman
The Favourite
Green Book

Should win: BlacKkKlansman
Makeup and Hairstyling

Vice
Mary Queen of Scots
Border

Should win: Vice
Score

If Beale Street Could Talk
Black Panther
BlacKkKlansman
Mary Poppins Returns
Isle of Dogs

Should win: If Beale Street Could Talk
Normally goes to the Best Picture-nominated juggernaut, but I think Beale Street could prove an exception to that trend. BlacKkKlansman could pull off an upset as well.
Song

"Shallow" (A Star is Born)
"All the Stars" (Black Panther)
"I'll Fight" (RBG)
"The Place Where Lost Things Go" (Mary Poppins Returns)
"When a Cowboy Trades His Spurs for Wings" (The Ballad of Buster Scruggs)

Should win: "Shallow" (A Star is Born)
Sound Editing

Bohemian Rhapsody
First Man
Roma
A Quiet Place
Black Panther

Should win: First Man
Sound Mixing

Bohemian Rhapsody
A Star is Born
Roma
First Man
Black Panther

Should win: Roma
Feels like any of the nominees could win in the sound categories this year.
VFX

First Man
Avengers: Infinity War
Solo: A Star Wars Story
Ready Player One
Christopher Robin

Should win: First Man
They tend to go with the prestigious nominee. Sorry, Thanos.
Animated Feature

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
Incredibles 2
Isle of Dogs
Ralph Breaks the Internet
Mirai

Should win: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
Foreign Language

Roma
Cold War
Shoplifters
Capernaum
Never Look Away

Should win: Roma
Documentary

Free Solo
RBG
Minding the Gap
Hale County This Morning, This Evening
Of Fathers and Sons

Animated Short

Bao
One Small Step
Late Afternoon
Weekends
Animal Behaviour

Documentary Short

Black Sheep
Period. End of Sentence.
End Game
A Night at the Garden
Lifeboat

Live Action Short

Marguerite
Fauve
Mother
Skin
Detainment

Summary

Picture | Roma
Director | Cuaron
Actress | Close
Actor | Malek
S Actress | King
S Actor | Ali
Adapted Screenplay | BlacKkKlansman
Original Screenplay | First Reformed
Cinematography | Roma
Costume | Black Panther
Production | Black Panther
Editing | Vice
Makeup/Hairstyling | Vice
Score | If Beale Street Could Talk
Song | "Shallow"
Sound Editing | Bohemian Rhapsody
Sound Mixing | Bohemian Rhapsody
VFX | First Man
Animated | Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
Foreign | Roma
Documentary | Free Solo
Animated Short | Bao
Documentary Short | Black Sheep
Live Action Short | Marguerite

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BAFTA predictions: Is 'The Favourite' a sure thing? Don't assume British are coming GOLD DERBY

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Do #BAFTA Wins For Actors, ‘#1917’ Portend The Same Scenario At Oscars? Bet On It

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2020-21 Fantasy Film Budget Game - Director/Screenplay Categories

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